Engaging Men And Boys As Allies In Fight For Gender Equality

Women: Experts Call For Engaging Men And Boys As
Allies In Fight For Gender Equality

New York, Mar
12 2014 7:00PM

Gender equality is not just a concern for
women and girls, a panel of experts gathered at the United
Nations in New York stressed today, highlighting the need to
engage men and boys as allies and agents of change in this
global struggle.

“Gender equality isn’t just a
women’s issue. It is an issue for all. It is a rights
issue because women’s rights are human rights,” declared
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of the UN Entity
for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women),
as she kicked off an event on the margins of the annual
session of the Commission on the Status of
Women.

“Working with men and boys, transforming
masculinity and traditional perceptions of manhood must be
part of the gender equality agenda,” she added.

Ms.
Mlambo-Ngcuka highlighted a new campaign launched by UN
Women last week on the occasion of International Women’s
Day called #HeforShe, in which men all over the world are
being encouraged to speak out against the inequalities faced
by women and girls.

Speaking directly to men and boys
during the launch, she called on them to take a stand, to
speak out and take action for their sisters, mothers,
daughters and partners. “Because silence and inaction of
good men conspire against women,” she stated.

Today’s
event, organized by Switzerland and Brazil, focused
particularly on engaging men and boys to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which call for the
reduction of extreme poverty and other global ills by 2015
– for women and girls. MDG 3 is specifically targeted to
gender equality and the empowerment of
women.

“Persistent gender inequalities and
discrimination of women and girls are a major obstacle to
sustainable development, including poverty eradication and
economic growth,” said Benno Bättig, Secretary-General of
the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and
moderator of the discussion.

MDG 3 gave women’s issues
some visibility, he noted, however it is silent on several
key gender issues, such as violence against women and
women’s unequal participation in decision-making. To
address not only the symptoms but the very root causes of
discrimination against women and girls, Switzerland
supported a stand-alone goal on gender equality and
women’s empowerment in the post-2015 development
agenda.

“To overcome structural impediments to full
gender equality, gender roles and relations must be
transformed,” said Mr. Bättig. “And this transformation
not only concerns women and girls, it requires the active
involvement of men and boys.”

He added that while the
engagement of men as allies has received little attention so
far, it can have significant benefits for women and
children, as well as for men themselves in contributing to
the full achievement of all the MDGs.

The Swiss Government
supports a project called “the part-time man” that
promotes flexible working hours and conditions that allow
men to spend more time with the family and giving women more
time for their careers.

“Furthermore, our experience has
shown that in societies where social norms and family honour
are prevailing factors, a positive change in women’s
social status is only possible when men’s attitudes
change,” Mr. Bättig stated. “We thus have to work with
men and boys as strategic allies and partners to achieve
gender equality.”

Bafana Khumalo, of the South
Africa-based gender equality organization Sonke Gender
Justice, highlighted the engagement of men and boys as a
means to try to limit the spread of HIV and promote
women’s empowerment.

He highlighted Sonke’s flagship
campaign, known as “One Man Can,” which has proven to be
an effective way to change the HIV and gender-related
behaviours and attitudes of men and women. It also
contributes to the decrease in the use of violence by men
against women, reduces the number of sexual partners, and
increases their use of condoms, testing and
services.

Sonke’s framework for engaging men and boys
emphasizes three critical perspectives, he noted. These are
involving men and boys as agents of change; engaging men and
boys as equal partners; and treating men and boys as
clients, so they can access and utilize services relating to
their sexual and reproductive health rights.

Also
highlighting the need to view men and boys as agents of
change was Oswaldo Montoya from Nicaragua, the Global
Coordinator for MenEngage, who also stressed the importance
of offering men and boys opportunities to help them “step
out of the masculinity box” and providing them with safe
spaces to do so.

“I would like to propose to men and
boys: forget about masculinity, embrace your humanity,” he
stated.

Mr. Montoya also encouraged UN Women to appoint a
focal point to advance the important work being done with
men and boys and to engage more of them in the pursuit of
gender equality.

Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Brazil’s
Ambassador to the UN, said that gender should be taken to
refer to both women and girls, and men and boys. “When we
discuss gender, we generally miss the reality of men and
boys, their potential contribution to the empowerment of
women and girls and their own gender-related specificities
and vulnerabilities.

“Fully addressing all dimensions of
gender inequality is a task that each and every one of us
has to take very seriously – rich and poor, North and
South, government and non-governmental organizations,
government and private sector, men and women.”

A
“sobering reminder” of the comparatively unfavourable
situation of women in the world, he pointed out, is that out
of the 193 Member States of the UN, only 8 have women
serving as President and 13 as Head of Government.

“I am
convinced that it is truly revolutionary to bring men and
boys on board on the discussions on overcoming gender
inequality,” Mr. Patriota said. “As we acknowledge that
mainstream and rigid concepts of masculinity and femininity
reinforce unequal and vertical power relations between men
and women, we also help to accelerate progress on gender
equality...

“It is time for men to join forces and
enhance their role in helping to achieve a more egalitarian
society. This is a win for women, a win for men and a win
for our common
humanity.”

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